Category ![DRZ 0549 UEVWEHNPWI[1]](/images/stories/RX-Girl/AmandaAivaliotis/DRZ_0549_UEVWEHNPWI[1].jpg)
you compete in: Heavyweight FBB
Date of birth: August 9, 1969
Hometown: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Career: Sports Therapist / Personal trainer
Competition history:
2011-3rd in LHW North American
2012-1st in HW Master North American
3rd in HW Open North American
2013-1st in HW Open North Americans
1st in HW Masters North Americans
2014- 1st and overall in Masters North Americans
Next competition: IFBB Toronto Pro Show
In your opinion, how important is motivation and confidence when aiming to accomplish a goal?
Motivation is a huge aspect in achieving anything in life. No one person can do the work for you. If you are mentally prepared, disciplined, and willing to work hard, you will always be happy with your outcome. This journey leads to confidence. When you have worked so hard and have given everything you can…. You will be confident in your outcome.
In your eyes, what combination of hard work and natural ability is needed to reach the top?
There will always be som
eone who is genetically more gifted than yourself…The only thing you can control is how hard and smart you will work. To get to the top of female bodybuilding, I feel its 80% hard work and 20% natural ability. I always told my friends… the only natural ability I was born with was the will to work hard.
What are some motivational strategies that have or currently work for you?
There are many gifted and great bodybuilders that are on the IFBB stage. I respect each and every one of them. I use many for motivation. When I wanted my conditioning better, I would think about Rita Bello, and how ripped she got at the Toronto Pro show in 2012. She had to have suffered and sacrificed so much to get there. I feel the need to try and match that.
I would also use visualization to create my rendition of the perfect physique. Then I would make catchy phrases like “shoulders like boulders”, “hamstrings like hammocks” and obsess over these body parts till I got them to the point of my satisfaction.
It’s hard to build the perfect physique and as a sculptor of my own body….will it ever be perfect in my eyes? Probably not, but it is fun trying to achieve it and seeing it change year to year. That in itself gives me motivation to train hard every year.
Give me some examples 
from your life where confidence has helped you to achieve?
As a shy girl growing up, it was important for me to gain confidence to be able to go on stage and be noticed amongst other great competitors. It is easy to be overlooked on stage, or in life. When I meet new people, give seminars or go to any event, my confidence allows me to make a connection with others.
I also need confidence in my day to day business. Being a sports therapist, I help numerous people with different ailments and injuries. If I wasn’t confident in myself, they would be reluctant in my therapy.
What do you find the most challenging about competing?
The biggest challenge every time I step on stage is to be better than I was the last time I competed. I feel the need to always go forward in life, improve like fine wine, and show that age has no barriers. My biggest competition in life is myself…and if I can be better each time, I have personally won.
What are your top 5 key strategies for success?
1. Hard work
2. Willing to always learn something new and having an open mind to listen
3. Always being positive, look at the glass half full not empty
4. Taking criticism in a positive way to improve myself
5. Staying focused and humble.
What is your favorite protein powder? Why do you like it?
I use a brand from Costco called Kiazen. It’s a Whey isolate, lactose free, made with Stevia as a sweetener.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: 
I have 3 Quotes that I live by:
1. “Those who feel the need to preach to others should be the master of thy self”
It’s very important for me to practice the life I teach. People listen more with my actions then my words
2. “I don’t talk about results, I make them happen”
I’m not an individual who talks a lot about what I will do…. I sometimes find “less is more”. I like to lead my conversation through my actions.
3. “Excuses are easy to make, results are hard to find”
When there is a barrier in life and it is within your control, I like to find a solution.
In closing, who would you like to give a shout out to?
I would like to give a shout out to Abdul Sagar. He has always believed in me and gave me the extra push I needed to succeed on the bodybuilding stage. His support and knowledge helped me achieve my pro card.
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